New Bern gun show packed

Published: Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 05:50 PM.

“They’re going to take away our guns,” said Matt Gardner of Newport. “Almost all pistols and even shot guns are semi-automatic.”

Walking down the fairgrounds packed and muddy road, retired editorial director of Outdoor Life, Oliver Moore of River Bend, said, “None of the proposed gun control measures would have prevented the tragedies of mass murder prompting this review of gun rights because they are the work of sick minds.”

He said a recent FBI report on U.S. murders from 2007 to 2011 found guns killed the lowest of that number, that the number of deaths from hammers and clubs were 50 percent higher. “And criminals can always get the guns or the fertilizer and chemicals to blow up buildings full of people” like the Trade Center parking garage or the Oklahoma City bombing.

“We don’t like to confront the fact that we are a violent society,” Moore said. “We can’t legislate away violence with gun control. We can only change it with the pocketbook. We need to look at TV shows and videos, even cartoons.”

He said states that legalized concealed weapons permits like Michigan and Florida have actually seen a decline in gun violence.

Area residents attended the New Bern gun show Saturday looking to potentially beat new gun controls expected following a federal committee report to the president Tuesday.

The committee headed by Vice President Joe Biden was charged with proposing ways to curb gun violence in the wake of Dec. 14 shootings at a Newton, Conn., school and similar mass shooting incidents.

The two-day show at Craven County Fairgrounds on U.S. 70 brought everyman types of all ages, including women and children, many of whom were candid about their motive.

“They put the Second Amendment in the Constitution for a reason,” said Anthony Cerrol, a Marine originally from Chicago now living in Jacksonville, who came looking for a shotgun.

The Sun Journal was not allowed inside the show despite the fact that Craven County Sheriff’s Office personnel were issuing gun permits at a table lined with those applying, like Blake Taylor of New Bern, who said he was getting a hand gun permit.

Delphia Caraway of Merritt, who sponsors the show with her husband Sherwood Caraway, told the Sun Journal reporter outside the door, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

She said past reporting had been fair but “we get a lot of comments after the fact so we don’t want the negative publicity. The Jaycees (who own the fairgrounds) don’t want a lot of issues. Besides, North Carolina is already doing everything they are recommending.”

People who apply for a gun permit and pass the required background check can buy and leave with the gun the same day, like Marine Kyle Hohman from Pittsburgh and now Jacksonville, who walked back to his vehicle with an MMC-4 semi-automatic rifle.

“It was made in North Carolina,” Hohman said, and is much like the weapon he is used to using with a 60-shot clip. “It cost about $1,800 — the cheapest one they had. They gave me the 30-round clip. That is a lot of money but it’s worth it. It’s an efficient, reliable weapon and I am going to exercise my second amendment right.”

That gun and AR-15 semi-automatic rifles have jumped from about $700 several weeks ago to a price nearer $2,000, and one man leaving the show with several ammo boxes said a new 30-round magazine that recently cost about $12 was selling for about $60 inside the show.

That law enforcement-connected buyer said he was in a gun shop in Elizabeth City this week and “the shelves were cleared off. I don’t know if defending ourselves against intruders is going to be possible or affordable.”

Some attending, like the Austin family of New Bern including infant son, came out to Saturday’s show “because it’s finally a sunny day,” said Stephanie Austin.

Gun rights supporters, they paid the $7 entrance fee to look at shrinking inventory and rising prices even though Zach Austin said, “We’re not here to buy. We have what we need.”

People walking from a fairgrounds parking lot were candid about their sense of urgency in being at this winter’s show.

“They’re going to take away our guns,” said Matt Gardner of Newport. “Almost all pistols and even shot guns are semi-automatic.”

Walking down the fairgrounds packed and muddy road, retired editorial director of Outdoor Life, Oliver Moore of River Bend, said, “None of the proposed gun control measures would have prevented the tragedies of mass murder prompting this review of gun rights because they are the work of sick minds.”

He said a recent FBI report on U.S. murders from 2007 to 2011 found guns killed the lowest of that number, that the number of deaths from hammers and clubs were 50 percent higher. “And criminals can always get the guns or the fertilizer and chemicals to blow up buildings full of people” like the Trade Center parking garage or the Oklahoma City bombing.

“We don’t like to confront the fact that we are a violent society,” Moore said. “We can’t legislate away violence with gun control. We can only change it with the pocketbook. We need to look at TV shows and videos, even cartoons.”

He said states that legalized concealed weapons permits like Michigan and Florida have actually seen a decline in gun violence.